Ugh

Yeah, I didn't get stuff done yesterday--on top of everything else, I had to start taking antibiotics thanks to some old-person dental issues, so I'm feeling pretty blah. We'll see how things go. I'm likely going to have to take on some additional family duties very soon, so...it may be a while before I can get back in the saddle on this thing....

Progress report

Yay! Finally I was able to jump back in and make some progress! Actually it went pretty well--I focused on the chapters where I was re-introducing the world again; I was able to not just take stuff out but incorporate the more fun and clever stuff into earlier chapters. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to re-work the part where the tension needs to be heightened (something I think can be done by shifting the point of view).

Progress report

I edited through chapter 29, which is as far as I've written.

I feel a little ergh about the first draft--the first section is great, but that's because [SPOILER] is happening, so there's kind of a natural story arc. The problem is that after [SPOILER] is [SPOILER]ed, things start to wander a bit. So I need to ramp up the tension a little, which I think should be doable, since [SPOILER] happens next--I just need to rework that part so that its full impact is felt, which isn't happening right now because [SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER].

In addition, you can tell that there was a long interruption to writing it, because some of the much later chapters read like I'm trying to introduce the whole fictional world all over again. So that needs work before I push on.

Progress report

I got some sleep last night, so today I took care of something I've been meaning to tend to for a while--I went through both Trang and Trust and copied out all the physical descriptions of the aliens. It's been a while since I've worked on this series, and I'm glad I posted a note to myself to do this when I was doing the rough draft, because in Trials I was giving the White Spiders eight legs instead of ten! (I did notice a minor continuity error between the first two books regarding the height of the Pincushions--let's just say they look bigger when they're charging you!)

I also noted the description of the station, the history of the portals, etc., etc.--stuff like this is why the Trang books are so much more complicated than a stand-alone novel. And honestly, this is why I have so much respect for the Harry Potter and the Remembrance of Things Past books--I mean, yeah, you can complain about this aspect or that, but given how tough it is just doing a regular series, trying to make something that's six or seven novels but is actually one ginormous book just sounds so hard!

Progress report

Things got busy, and then I had my shot, so.... My sleep schedule is still a little screwed up, but I really wanted to get SOME work done, so today I noodled a bit with some of the already-edited chapters. (I get ideas about what needs a little extra fixing usually when I'm trying to go to sleep at night, so I write myself little notes on scraps of paper. Then, when I sit down to edit...I realize that I can't really read the damned notes! Luckily I remembered most of it.)

Progress report

I was able to edit chapters 6-9 today--that sounds super-industrious, but of course the editing is getting easier because the further I go into the book, the fewer passages that read "BACKGROUND HERE DESCRIPTION DESCRIPTION" I have to flesh out.

Progress report

Since the cover for the YA book is pretty much done, and the interior is with the copy editor, I figured I might as well start in on Trials again--whoo! Yeah, that's a combination of "OH MY GOD THIS BOOK IS SO MUCH MORE COMPLICATED" and "Wow, this is great!" Since it's been a while, I started in with editing the first couple of chapters--I need to get stuff like back story and descriptions in there.

Noodling....

I fiddling with the back jacket today--it's hard because my printer is nothing special (like, at all--I got tired of buying "nice" printers that died within the year, so I bought a $40 one with a three-year warranty that was maybe $3 more, and of course it's been chugging along without any problems). So if I can't read something easily when I print it out, I'm never sure if it's a real problem or if it will be fine when it's a high-quality book-jacket printout. I don't want all the lettering to be huge, so I made everything relatively legible....

I'm back!

I finished off my shots (YAY), and then I went on a trip I had been planning a while. Now I'm back!

The copy editor hasn't sent me back the layout yet (I might have been a little too convincing with my, "No worries about a deadline! I won't even be around!"), so today I finished up the cover for the paper book. (Now that I know how long it is, I can make the spine the correct width!) I think it looks pretty good, although I'll have to see how the first test copy turns out.

Whoo!

I have finished proofreading the revised layout--YAY! Now I just have to go over the corrections and make sure they're OK, which I should be able to do in plenty of time to get layout in the mail on Monday!